In the Traveler's Light, and Heart of the Galaxy
by Sceptic62
Summary: In the grace of the Traveler's light, we sung. In the golden age of humanity, we sung. And in the age of Darkness? We sing. But no longer do we sing of grace, or peace, or prosperity. We are the Guardians, and our souls sing in the name of those who fell. We sing of war, and of victory! A MExDestiny crossover.


A/N: New story yay!

Dust flew off the surface of the red planet. The noise of the shuttle engines came to a low hum as the occupants prepared for drop onto the unforgiving terrain. Clawed feet hit the ground, and immediately the strike team raised their rifles in preparation.

"Be prepared for anything, we have no clue what species opened the relay. For all we know, the things that killed the scouting team could be as advanced as the Protheans." The team nodded in recognition of their leader's command. He made quick hand gestures with his three fingers. Silent commands that registered as 'Break up. Squads of 3.'

"Move out!" Ordered Saren Arterius. Not one to lead from behind, Saren Arterius was a true soldier of the Heirarchy through and through. Commemorated with multiple honors, at the simple age of 17, Saren Arterius was already leading his own fire teams into battles that few soldiers of the Turian Hierarchy would even be considered for. He and his squad of three headed north through the red dust clouds, eventually fading out of sight.

In orbit, the ships of Turian Hierarchy were simply sitting. Waiting. Watching. The first sign of a life came from the _Advancement_, a specially designed scout corvette purposely sent with the Turian fleet to investigate the mysterious disappearances behind relay 314. From the most scum filled Batarian ships, to even a group of STG stealth corvettes, all went dark behind the relay. The communications operator of the Dreadnought _Indomitable_ acted immediately.

"Sir, we've got incoming transmissions from the _Advancement_."

"Patch them through." A grim voice stated from the head position of the Command Center. General Arcterius was a Turian of noble merit, and of even greater strategic genius. He slowly surveyed the stars above the red dust ball, eyes looking for anything out of place. He turned to face the command deck and projector and motioned for the deckhands to bring up the comms systems.

"General!" The captain of the _Advancement_ saluted. Desolas saluted in response and nodded.

"Captain. Tell me, what has over 60 million credits of R&D bought us? " It was obvious from the snide remark that Desolas was not one for such an expenditure of the Heirarchy funds on a single corvette. Of course, the sheer amount of technological advancements on the small ship was astounding. It even had STG scout teams beat in terms of information acquiring.

"Well, it's bought us enough information to know that a _frigate_ just appeared out of nowhere, _in_ _atmosphere._" Had Desolas been drinking at that point in time, he surely would have been justified in doing a spit take. To be precise enough to jump from planet to planet _in atmosphere?_

'What in the world are we facing? To simply teleport into atmosphere with an entire ship?' Arterius thought to himself.

"I want every gun on every ship aimed at that frigate. If it managed to teleport into the atmosphere, there's no telling what else it might hide." Arterius wasn't even able to contemplate a plan before the captain of the _Advancement_ dropped the figurative bomb of the millenium.

"Sir, 6 more vessels appeared in orbit and are making their way to the frigate. They all just jumped out of light speed." The operator said.

"What, I don't see anything."

"That's because they're all the size of a personal shuttle, and no eezo readings on the shuttles or even the frigate," Desolas simply couldn't take it all in. Personal shuttles with light speed capabilities? Frigates that can teleport into orbit? No eezo?

"Call the ground team, I want them out. We're calling this off before any other surprises happen that could get us killed." Desolas watched as the monitor enhanced on the 6 shuttles entering the atmosphere of the red planet. All six of them flew in coordination, all to the last recorded location of the frigate.

"Lieutenant Arterius, the General is requesting for your team to reach an evac zone. Hostiles have been spotted in atmosphere above you."

"No shit!" Saren exclaimed as he dodged a third salvo of plasma from the hostile aliens. Part of debris shot out over the cover, and right onto his arm. Immediately, his right ear was filled with static.

'Damn it, that debris broke the damned omni-tool comms.' Saren was getting desperate. Backs to a wall of stone, the squad leader carefully watched the walking tank. Literally walking. Six legs, solid armor, and a mounted plasma cannon sure as hell made it obvious that hostiles were spotted. If that wasn't enough, these 4 armed turian rejects had shields that could eat 4 thermal clips out of his Avenger and not even flare. He ducked behind cover as soon as his thermal clip overheated. The salvo crashed into the hill, and to Saren, it felt like the whole planet was shaking. He looked to his left and watched as Nihlus, his XO, drag the other soldier's wounded body into cover. He jammed another thermal clip into his Avenger, and waited. He looked over the partially disolved concrete and saw a shimmer outlining a leg. He unloaded and watched in satisfaction as the cloak dissipated and revealed the riddled body of what appeared to be a mutated Turian with 4 arms. He turned to his left and shouted.

"They've got Infiltrator cloaks, watch your backs!" Nihlus nodded in response, and popped out of cover to return fire as Saren prepared another biotic warp.

'They eat warps as though they were practice rounds, and the larger armored ones completely ignore our mass effect rounds their biotic shields.' He looked over at Nihlus and the downed commando. About thirty feet away, Saren was too far from his squad to make a run for it, and his squad was too injured to retrieve him. He saw another glimmer in the air behind Nihlus, and watched in abject horror as a sword made its way through the air. For Saren, time slowed. He tried to load his last clip, in hopes of saving his two squad members. The thermal clip slipped into its socket, and immediately, Saren pulled up the rifle, aiming right for where the head would be. He pulled the trigger. The thermal clip came flying out of its chamber once more, and Saren watched, stunned.

'I loaded a spent clip.' For all his honors, accolades, and experiences, not even the great Saren Arterius was immune to mistakes.

"NIHLUS, BEHIND!" He shouted with all his might. Hoping that the soldier would turn around to at least stall for Saren to cover him. Nihlus never stopped firing. He just looked at Saren once and nodded. Nihlus never turned around. He layed down cover fire for Saren until the sword came out his chest plate, buying even a little time so that at least Saren would be able to run. On Saren's HUD, Nihlus's name flashed red for a few moments. Then, Thunder came. Saren watched as a blitz of plasma turned the four armed infiltrator into shreds. It sounded akin to a chain ripping across a metal sheet at high speeds, a sound which matched no rifle in Citadel space. Saren looked over towards the source of the fire. On a ridge above the wall they were backed into, came a large humanoid being. With a size greater than some Krogan, the massive armored being launched itself at the hostile shoulder first. Then, what could only be described as a bubble of purple light rose up, easily deflecting both the tank salvos and covering Saren's injured teammates from further harm. Just as Saren was about to run over and check on what the giant being was doing, he heard a loud bang right next to his ears. Pulling himself away from the sound, Saren covered his ears as he turned to his right, watching something decloak.

"An Asari?" He asked himself quietly. Or at least, it appeared to be an Asari. It was wearing form fitting gear, made of the same material as the bubble giant, with cloth pieces at the joints for more movement. She wore a hood with an elaborate design, and carried a sniper rifle almost as large as she was. Saren wasn't even allowed to regain his thoughts before the..._strangest_ one came jumping over the cliff. Wreathed in what appeared to be golden biotic energy, Saren watched as the being unloaded an unbelievable amount of what appeared to be miniature _suns_ into the oncoming horde of enemies. It was even stranger when he heard what the being whispered. For it was certainly in a different language, and most definitely inaudible over the sounds of battle. But Saren heard the being nonetheless, and he was sure that everything on the battlefield heard it as well.

_"These motherfuckers...Do not even Praise The Sun."_

The alien being next to Saren merely nodded, as though she were dealing with something all too familiar, and was all too fed up dealing with it to muster anymore of a reply. The golden glow wore off, and Saren was finally able to get a good look at the third member. Covered in what appeared to be pure cloth armor, complete with a cloth adornment piece and helmet such as the others, the biotic teleported down to the battle. Quickly recognizing they were under qualified for the battle, the enemy horde slowly dissipated, never turning their backs, and never taking their rifles off of the three standing aliens. Saren thought they were insane, but slowly, the sound of machinery and screeching of those horrid two armed creatures faded.

'Wait, Nihlus, Garrus!' Saren though as he ran right out of cover, and ran over to where his teammates were. The moment he entered the purple light, however, he felt completely rejuvenated, as though no hours long battle had taken place. He made his way over to his teammates, only to be stopped.

"What are you doing! They need a medic!" Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to shout what was most certainly heard as gibberish at a being that could probably take on two fully loaded Krogan, unarmed and unassisted. The giant pointed at Saren, and pointed down. Unwilling to follow orders, Saren prepared to throw biotic laden fist at the titan. The sound of two weapons being armed and pressed against the back of his head caused him to completely forget about that idea. Saren sat down as told, and watched as the three conversed. He crawled over to Nihlus and Garrus.

"How's Nihlus, Garrus?" The wounded soldier propped himself up on his one good arm and gave his report.

"Sir, he was stabbed in the back. By a sword. His armor was forged with the eezo stress-compact process, and it was torn through like paper. By a sword. Other than that, the big fella over there has been using that weird biotic shield to keep us alive. Hell, my arm doesn't even hurt anymore, and it looks good as new!" Garrus showed his injured limb to the Lieutenant. While "good as new" was certainly a strong description, Saren couldn't deny that the wound looked as though it was months old, instead of an hour old. Saren looked at Nihlus, and looked over the bleeding wound. While it was definitely better than a fresh stab wound, Nihlus's chance of survival were still slim. Saren looked up at the group of three. The _strange_ one teleported from where he was standing out into the middle of the battle field, looked around, and came back. In its hand, it held what looked like a weaker version of the solar based grenades it used earlier. It walked over to Saren, looked down at Nihlus, and pointed at its hand, then at Nihlus.

"Do it." Saren said with little apprenhension while nodding.

"Are you insane Saren? That's the same stuff it was tossing around earlier. Did you see what it did? It MELTED the stone, stone by the way, that didn't even melt to intense PLASMA CANNONS!" Saren shot one look at the commando telling him to shutup. It was their only hope to save Nihlus.

'Worse comes to worse, his death will be a less painful experience' Saren thought to himself. He watched the being crush the light in its hand, and whisper once more.

_"May the Traveler's Light become your Light"_ With that, the being released the crushed light, watching as it faded into Nihlus's body. His breathing slowly stabilized and Saren quickly checked his vitals. He nodded once to the being in appreciation, then nodded to Garrus, signalling that Nihlus would live. The hooded "asari" came over, and motioned for the other to join them. Saren watched as they seemingly agreed on something by nodding. Then, out of nowhere, 3 VI platforms came into existence. Then, as one, the three looked to the sky expecting something. Saren and Garrus watched the sky as well, and watched as three odd looking shuttles landed. The strange one motioned for Garrus, the gigantic one motioned for Nihlus's unconscious body, and the cloaked one motioned for Saren.

"They want us to follow them."

"What?"

"They want us to follow them to where ever they're going, and I think we should."

"I'm sorry if I'm out of turn here, sir, but, why in the hell would we follow them, Saren? I mean, I'm supposed to follow your orders and all, but this is just insane!"

"They're friendly Garrus, and there is no telling how long that medicine or whatever will last. We need to get Nihlus healed."

"What about your brother?"

"I'll leave a beacon, but for now, help me get Nihlus over to the big guy."

"You mean the one that probably eats Krogan for breakfast, sir?"

"At least he doesn't treat a helium-hydrogen reaction as a god."

"Fair point." They both got up from their sitting positions, and dragged Nihlus over to the ship. Then, after the deed was done, they split up to their respective shuttles.

"Why do I always get the insane ones?" Garrus mumbled as he jumped into the cockpit of the clothwearing sun-praiser. As Saren watched them both blast off into the edges of the atmosphere, he turned on his comms.

"Indomitable, I've made contact with natives, both hostile, and friendly. Two of my 3 man squad have been heavily injured, and will be going with the natives to receive treatment. The rest of the fire team has already been evacuated. Our comms are broken. I'll be leaving a beacon once we land somewhere safe. Saren out."


End file.
